UnsolvedDennis Wayne Chaffee

Dennis Wayne Chaffee of Cedar Rapids spent the weekend of July 16 – 17, 1983, at home with his 1½-year-old twins – son Adam and daughter Maria – and on Monday, July 18, was to return them to their mother, Mary Hernandez, who resided in Marion.

When Monday arrived, Dennis didn’t answer his phone when Mary called, nor did he show up for work at Wilson Foods in Cedar Rapids, where he’d been employed for the past 15 years. Concerned, Mary called Dennis’ parents, Harlon and Betty. When Harlon and Betty went to investigate at 8:30 PM, they found the toddlers, dirty and thirsty, but unharmed. Their son, however, lay at the bottom of the basement steps, dead from several gunshot wounds. Dennis, a 33-year-old Vietnam vet whom police described as “a kind of loner,” had been shot once in the arm and twice in the head with a small caliber weapon. The gun was not found at the scene.

The house sat back from the street and was surrounded by shrubbery, large trees and a fence. And though the two-story brick home was somewhat in disarray, police didn’t believe it had been burglarized. The door was found closed but unlocked.

After discovering their son’s body, Harlon and Betty took the children across the street to the home of Judy Ryan. Judy cared for the twins for about an hour, at which time they were picked up and taken to the hospital for examination. Mary picked up her children early Tuesday after an interview with Cedar Rapids Detectives.

More than three decades after Dennis’ murder, his twins, Adam and Maria, remain committed to finding answers to questions they still have about his untimely death. No one has ever been charged for Dennis’ murder and his case remains unsolved. If you have any information about Dennis’ unsolved murder, please call the Cold Case Unit at 319.286.5919.